Lord Baden Powell, founder of Boy Scouts, proclaimed: try and leave this world a little better than you found it. I have always adopted this when working with clients, and it creates a competitive advantage in the marketplace by having an improvement-oriented focus.
The Scouts also used to say: do a good turn every day. Imagine how much better the world would be if everyone adopted that approach!
Why don’t you adopt that attitude in your business?
How do you make sure that in every meeting with a client (or potential one), you do a good turn and add value to them in some way? Are you actively looking for the opportunity to help, to serve? Are you programing your Reticular Activation System (your mental filters and way of perceiving the world) such that your natural reaction is to be of assistance?
If you were to do this, what do you think would happen to your business?
Well, first of all you are probably going to do more business. As you assist others, the reciprocal nature of trust comes into play and a potential client is a little more likely to become a paying client. Adding value to them increases the deposits in the Trust Bank Account in their head, and shift their balance towards you in a positive manner that results in them being more inclined to do business with you. So your production will go up.
You will also probably observe a shortening of your sales cycle, as people become more comfortable with you more quickly. The Enhanced Trust Factor (ETF) is inversely proportional to the SO (Self Orientation) score, so aiding others consistently dramatically and immediately improves the trust and yields shorter time to deal completion.
What else would an Other focused approach do for your business?
Maybe improve your reputation?
Definitely make you more referable. Clients actually like introducing Advisors that help them out regularly, who have their interests central to the business focus and process. Rotary says “Givers Get”, and if what you sell is yourself, the more you give of yourself the more you will sell because people will know you are an asset that they want on their team. By dedicating mental resources to consistently and systematically improving the people you interact with, your clients (and not yet clients) will become your fans and promote you even when you don’t know about it. That occasional call saying “you don’t know me but I’m a friend of So and So’s, they said I need to come talk to you. When can I come see you?” is the direct result of the thousand little things you’ve done that add up to a good reputation. Being attractive is more than having movie star good looks and a winning smile.
Service is a core belief of Scouts, and of my family. As such it has become core to my identity and our business. Being a member of the “Financial Services” industry gives you and I the opportunity to help people every day, to literally help that little old lady across the street of life.
So go do your good turn daily.
